The Saint Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer Historical Institute has just published the critical-historical edition of the book “The Abbess of Las Huelgas”. This represents volume 5 in the collection of the Complete Works of Saint Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer. Madrid, Rialp, 2016, 867 pages.
The authors of this publication, María Blanco – professor of State Ecclesiastical Law at the University of Navarre, she is author of five monographs with historical-legal content as well as numerous articles and she is a member of the Scientific Committee of several journals and a member of the Spanish Academy of Jurisprudence and Legislation – and María del Mar Martín – permanent lecturer of State Ecclesiastical Law at the University of Almería, author of numerous works of Canon, State and Comparative Law- have done a thorough critical analysis and legal-historical commentary of the original text which was first published in 1944 by the founder of Opus Dei.
The subject matter of St. Josemaría Escrivá’s theological-juridical study was the quasi-episcopal jurisdiction exercised for centuries by the abbess of this Burgos monastery. The study was the result of a careful study of original sources and documents, moreover it was enriched and enlivened, as the author himself points out in the prologue of the first edition, with anecdotes which are to be found throughout the book.